Lenin El-Ramly (; August 18, 1945 – February 7, 2020) was an independent Egyptian writer and director of films and for television and theater. His work is in the field of

satire Satire is a genre of the visual, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, often with the intent of exposin ...

farce Farce is a comedy that seeks to entertain an audience through situations that are highly exaggerated, extravagant, ridiculous, absurd, and improbable. Farce is also characterized by heavy use of physical comedy, physical humor; the use of delibe ...

parody A parody is a creative work designed to imitate, comment on, and/or mock its subject by means of satire, satirical or irony, ironic imitation. Often its subject is an Originality, original work or some aspect of it (theme/content, author, style, e ...

and the '' Theatre of the Absurd''. He was recognized in Egypt and abroad for his daring, raising questions about the hypocritical and intolerant aspects of Egyptian society and other countries in the

Arab world The Arab world ( '), formally the Arab homeland ( '), also known as the Arab nation ( '), the Arabsphere, or the Arab states, comprises a large group of countries, mainly located in West Asia and North Africa. While the majority of people in ...

. His presentations were characterized as existentialist and sociopolitical questions within popular funny settings.

Life and career

El-Ramly was born in August 1945 in

Cairo Cairo ( ; , ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Egypt and the Cairo Governorate, being home to more than 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, L ...

to a politically engaged family.Words without Borders
biography
/ref>Emea
''Prins Claus Prijs 2005 voor Zapiro, cartoonist uit Zuid-Afrika''
His mother was

Souad Zuhair Souad Zuhair (, born in 1925 – 2000) was aEgyptian writerwho worked for the magazine ''Rose al Yusuf (magazine), Rose al-Yūsuf'', which published many of her novels in serial (literature), serial format. The daughter of an English teacher ...

, a writer at Rosa al-Yusuf, a well known Egyptian magazine. He published his first

short story A short story is a piece of prose fiction. It can typically be read in a single sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the old ...

in 1956 in the magazine ''Sabah El-Kheir''. During his studies, in 1967, he started writing social comedies and series for television. In the 21st century, his work from this era is still being broadcast. In 1970, he obtained his

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Medieval Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six years ...

in Theater Critics and Theater Literature at the High Institute for Theater Art.Golden Thread
'Lenin El Ramly - ''Nightmare
In 1971 El-Ramly and film director

Salah Abu Seif Salah Abu Seif (, ) (May 10, 1915 – June 23, 1996) was a prominent Egyptian film director and screenwriter. He is considered to be the godfather of Neorealism (art), Neorealist cinema in Cinema of Egypt, Egyptian cinema. Many of the 41 fil ...

began a close cooperation. During this time he wrote ''The Ostrich and the Peacock'', which was only shown to the public for the first time in 2002, 30 years later. The

censors Censorship is the suppression of speech, public communication, or other information. This may be done on the basis that such material is considered objectionable, harmful, sensitive, or "inconvenient". Censorship can be conducted by governmen ...

claimed that the film featured a sexual dialogue that invoked sexual desires. According to El-Ramly, they had misunderstood his script. El-Ramly founded his own theater company in 1980, called ''Studio 80''. He has aimed to put other kinds of plays on stage than usually could be seen in commercial theatres. His 1991 work ''Bel-Arabi El-Faseeh'', translated into

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

as ''In Plain Arabic'', discusses

Pan-Arabism Pan-Arabism () is a Pan-nationalism, pan-nationalist ideology that espouses the unification of all Arabs, Arab people in a single Nation state, nation-state, consisting of all Arab countries of West Asia and North Africa from the Atlantic O ...

. This play has been described as matchless satire, and was declared to be the ''Best Theater Play of the Year'' in Egypt. It landed him the Soad Sabbah Award from

Kuwait Kuwait, officially the State of Kuwait, is a country in West Asia and the geopolitical region known as the Middle East. It is situated in the northern edge of the Arabian Peninsula at the head of the Persian Gulf, bordering Iraq to Iraq–Kuwait ...

, as well as praise from Western media critics, for instance, the ''

Herald Tribune ''Herald'' or ''The Herald'' is the name of various newspapers. ''Herald'' or ''The Herald'' Australia * ''The Herald'' (Adelaide) and several similar names (1894–1924), a South Australian Labor weekly, then daily * '' Barossa and Light Heral ...

'' and ''

Time Magazine ''Time'' (stylized in all caps as ''TIME'') is an American news magazine based in New York City. It was published weekly for nearly a century. Starting in March 2020, it transitioned to every other week. It was first published in New York Cit ...

''. His theatre plays have been staged in the

, as well as in Western countries like

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

and

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. Notably, the Carthage Theatre Festival in

Tunisia Tunisia, officially the Republic of Tunisia, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered by Algeria to the west and southwest, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Tunisia also shares m ...

has refused to show ''In plain Arabic''. In 1993, El-Ramly founded his second theatre company, called ''Studio 2000''. In 1994, he rewrote his debut from 1967 that he had introduced then under the title '' Al-Erhabi'' (''The Terrorist''). With this scenario, he became widely known in his own country and abroad. El-Ramly's work is widely recognized. For instance, he won during the Vivay Film Festival for Comical Movies in 1987, and the aforementioned Kuwaiti Soad Sabbah Award in 1991. In 2005, El-Ramly was honored with the

Prince Claus Award The Prince Claus Fund was established in 1996 and named after Prince Claus of the Netherlands. It is annually subsidized by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Since 1997, the Fund has annually presented the international Prince Claus Awa ...

from the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

. The jury valued his "''constructive use of humour to provoke public analysis of social and cultural issues.''"

Theater plays

Source: AS of 2005, El-Ramly has written forty theatre plays in

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

that have been shown on the stage like ''Al-Hamagi'' (1985), ''Wijhet Nazar'' (1989), and '' Keep Your Daughters Locked In'' (1980). Three of them were translated into

: * 1994: ''In Plain Arabic'', A U C in Cairo Press, Egypt, translated by Esmat Allouba, * 1999: ''Point of view'', Foreign Cultural Information Dept., Egypt, translated by Yussif Hifnawi, * 1999: ''The Nightmare'', City University Of N.Y, USA, translated by Wagdi Zeid More plays have been translated in other languages, like ''The Prisoner'' from 2002 which was staged in Danish.

Filmography

The following film scripts have been written by El-Ramly:Ramli, Lenin El-
list of films
/ref> * 1983: ''A Marriage Proposal'', Nagy Anglo * 1985: ''The Man Who Sneezed'', Omr Abd El Aziz * 1986: ''Ali Bey and the 40 Thieves'', Ahmed yassen * 1986: ''The Beginning'', Omr Abd El Aziz * 1987: ''The Intern Lawyer'', Salah Abou Seif * 1994: ''Mr. Dog'', Salah Abou Seif * 1994: '' The Terrorist'', Nader Galal * 1995: ''Bekeet and Adeela'', Nader Galal * 1997: ''Bekeet and Adeela'', Nader Galal *2000: ''Hello America'', Nader Galal *2002: ''The Ostrich and The Peacock'', Mohammed Abou Seif

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ramly, Lenin El 1945 births 2020 deaths Egyptian dramatists and playwrights Egyptian film directors Egyptian screenwriters Egyptian television directors Egyptian theatre directors Existentialists Mass media people from Cairo Theatre of the Absurd